Someone Like Me

Harry awoke in the morning to the clanking of flatware, though the sound was strangely softened, as though whoever was moving it was making every effort to be silent. The first thing he felt was the slight warm, rather comfortable, pressure on his hand and the soft skin under his thumb. His next feeling, that of the cold hard wood under his cheek, was not nearly so pleasurable. Yawning, he raised his head and straightened his glasses. Kenzie, too, was stirring. She withdrew her hand from Harry's and sat up, rubbing the lines on her cheek left from sleeping on the folds of her sleeve.

"Good morning, dears," Mrs. Weasley greeted them brightly. "I'm glad you're awake, I was just about to wake you myself. Breakfast is ready." She placed a stack of a bowls, a bunch of spoons, a serving dish of porridge, a plate of toast, and various trimmings. She then walked back to the table next to the fireplace. She returned with a pitcher of pumpkin juice and a tall stack of drinking glasses.

"Good morning," Harry answered as he watched her progress.

"Good morning," Kenzie echoed.

"Oh, and happy birthday to you, dear," Mrs. Weasley added, beaming at Kenzie.

Harry, who was in the middle of serving himself porridge, froze with the serving spoon hovering over his bowl. "It's your birthday?" he asked.

Kenzie blushed. "Yes," she answered sheepishly.

"Happy birthday!" he told her, feeling slightly ashamed. When she had told him the date of her birthday the previous night, he had not even registered that July 20 was the following day. Actually, he had not even kept track of the days since coming to Grimmauld Place; most of the time he didn't even know the difference between Tuesday and Saturday, much less the actual date.

"We've got gifts for you later, of course, dear," Mrs. Weasley continued, "and everyone will be over later for a party of sorts."

"Really, you don't have to make such a fuss," Kenzie said, blushing ever more furiously. "I don't need gifts, honestly, and a party really isn't necessary, either."

"Of course it is!" Mrs. Weasley insisted stubbornly. "You don't turn fifteen every day, believe me, at my age, I know. Besides, these days we all need something to celebrate. You'll be doing us all a favor." Kenzie smiled gratefully at Mrs. Weasley, who beamed back at her. "Eat, eat!" she prodded them, turning to tend to the coffee kettle hanging over the flames in the fireplace.

Harry finally dumped the spoonful of porridge that had been hanging in midair into his bowl and pushed the serving dish toward Kenzie. "I'm sorry, I didn't even realize that today was July 20," he apologized truthfully.

"It's alright," Kenzie assured him. "Actually, I tried my very best to make sure no one knew my birthday was today, but apparently my secret leaked out. It has something to do with Grandmother, I'd expect," she added thoughtfully. Harry laughed appreciatively.

"Good morning, all," Ron said by way of announcing his presence as he sat down next to Harry. Then, without further ado, he seized the porridge bowl, pulled it toward himself, spooned out some of the bowl's contents, and began to eat hungrily. Ron's appearance was soon followed by that of Hermione and then Ginny. Both girls heartily wished Kenzie happy birthday.

Kenzie threw up her hands in frustration. "Has Grandmother told the whole of London?" she demanded indignantly.

"Yes," a voice behind her piped up. The owner of the voice was soon identified as Mrs. Townsen. She swooped down and planted a kiss on Kenzie's cheek. "It's not everyday your only granddaughter turns fifteen, you know." Mrs. Townsen sat down next to Kenzie and began serving herself. "Why I remember your father's fifteenth birthday...."

Throughout the rest of breakfast, Mrs. Townsen kept everyone in fits with a humorous story about the fifteenth birthday party of Kenzie's father Oliver. Mr. Weasley, who had been at the party and witnessed the entire thing, found the memory especially amusing. Apparently, Oliver had a disagreement with one of his friends - a friend who was revealed to have been Suzanne, Kenzie's mother - and the entire family had spent the whole day at St. Mungo's while Oliver's head was turned back to its original form from that of a weasel.

"I heard her scream, 'That'll teach you to act like a weasel, Oliver Townsen!' When I went around to see what was the matter, there was Ollie, sitting on the ground with the head of a little gray weasel on his shoulders!" Mrs. Townsen had relayed, tears of mirth streaming down her face at the memory. "It took my poor husband ten minutes to stop laughing so he could talk clearly enough to take Ollie to St. Mungo's by Floo Powder!"

"Transfiguration always was Suzanne's strongest subject," Mr. Weasley added, wiping away his own tears of laughter.

"Apparently not. She meant to turn all of him into a weasel, I think," Mrs. Townsen reckoned. Everyone began laughing harder.

After the story, everyone slowly drifted out of the kitchen and onto usual activities. Mrs. Townsen and Mr. Weasley left for the Ministry of Magic. Fred and George were off to a day's work at Weasley's Wizarding Wheezes. Mrs. Weasley beamed at Kenzie and announced that she would be accompanying the twins to Diagon Alley to do some shopping. Kenzie blushed furiously and once again insisted that gifts weren't necessary, especially when Hermione and Harry both gave Mrs. Weasley some money and asked that she purchase their gifts to Kenzie for them as well. Mrs. Weasley accepted the money and waved aside Kenzie's protests. Kenzie smiled back sheepishly.

After everyone had left, Harry, Ron, Hermione, Kenzie, and Ginny found themselves alone in a house completely devoid of adults. They were taken by surprise by their new found freedom, but were aware that in Grimmauld Place, one was rarely as alone as one thought. So, they contented themselves with exploring the attic, a suggestion of Ginny's, rather than snooping about for Order papers as Ron had proposed.

"Wow, I never knew there was this much stuff up here!" Ginny said in awe as they all emerged into the pale light coming through the one dirty window in the attic.

Kenzie answered her by sneezing three times in quick succession. "And all of it covered in dust!"

"I can't believe Sirius found this much stuff to save from this house," Harry said, motioning to the jumble of items lining the walls. "I thought he hated this house."

"Well, he did live here for sixteen years of his life," Hermione pointed out reasonably. "Surely there were a few things he wanted to keep."

"Where shall we start?" Ron asked, rubbing his hands together excitedly in anticipation.

"I'm not too sure about this, everything up here's probably full of Dark magic," Hermione said anxiously.

Ron rolled his eyes. "Exactly, Hermione, that's the point," he said as though that much ought to have been obvious.

"Well, I don't think we should mess around with it, who knows what we could find. Something might -" Hermione tossed around for some horror which might befall them "-- I don't know, attack or bewitch or possess one of us."

"You always suck the fun out of everything," Ron huffed, crossing his arms over his chest angrily.

"I do not suck the fun out of everything!" Hermione persisted.

"You do so. 'No, Ron, it could be dangerous.' 'No, Ron, you might get hurt.' 'Ron, you are a school prefect.' 'I'm going to bed before either one of you comes up with another clever idea to get us killed.' Admit it, Hermione," Ron mocked. Hermione was adamant. Everyone else was shaking with suppressed laughter at Ron's rather effective impression of Hermione.

"Maybe I just 'suck the fun out of everything' as you claim because I don't want you to get hurt!" Hermione said hotly.

Ron, who didn't seem to have thought of this possibility, looked rather shocked. "I'm sure Sirius wouldn't have kept anything dangerous," Harry assured Hermione, hoping to halt the impending argument. Hermione sent one more withering glare at Ron, rolled her eyes, and stalked across the room.

"Fine, let's start over here, shall we?" Hermione suggested, sweeping her hand toward a pile of items stacked on top of a trunk in the corner under the window.

All five friends were soon pulling down boxes and unpacking them. They found no Dark items ("See, Hermione," Ron gloated), but rather, many boxes filled with women's clothes.

"I wonder who all these belonged to," Kenzie mused as she held an exquisite set of turquoise dress robes in front of herself and pondered the effect in a tall, spotted mirror.

"I don't know. Definitely not Sirius's mum," Harry said, holding up a bright pink handbag. "I doubt she ever owned anything this bright."

"My guess would be one of his cousins, the ones missing from the family tree. He wouldn't have kept them otherwise," Ginny answered, coming over to seize the handbag. "I actually like this," she said. "Do you think anyone would mind if we took some of this stuff?" Everyone looked to Hermione for the answer.

"I doubt it. It's just sitting up here in boxes," she shrugged.

"Good!" Ginny said, tossing the handbag to a spot near the door. "That's my pile! Oh, Kenzie, those robes are gorgeous on you!" she gushed, coming over to examine the robes more closely.

By the time they had worked their way down to the trunk, all three girls had fair-sized piles by the door and only a few of the boxes remained completely full.

"This looks like a Hogwarts trunk!" Hermione observed, pointing at a trunk that had previously been hidden by the many boxes of women's clothing.

Hoping it might have belonged to his godfather, Harry excitedly opened the trunk. The lid squeaked open and fell against the wall with a thud, sending a cloud of dust into the air.

"Oh my," Hermione said in an awed sort of voice. Coughing and fanning away dust, Harry looked into the trunk.

The trunk was filled with an assortment of objects. At first glance its contents looked much like that of Harry's own trunk. However, upon further inspection, Harry could tell that few of the items would never be found in his possession. His heart sank. There was no way this had been Sirius's trunk. The multitude of books, which at first glance looked to be ordinary text books, was in fact a collection of books teaching the theory and practice of the Dark Arts. Most were covered in a sinister black scaly material which appeared to be dragon hide, but one was bound in what looked horribly like human skin. The cover of another was decorated with a terribly graphic picture of a man jerking about on the ground, undoubtedly under the Cruciatus Curse. They all stared transfixed at this book for a moment before Hermione, who was looking very pale, reached out with a trembling hand and moved it aside. The reason for Hermione's extreme reaction to the image was revealed when Harry caught the title glimmering in silver letters against the black binding on the spine of the book: History and Practice of Muggle Persecution and Torture. Shivering, he turned back to the other contents of the trunk and moved more of the books aside. Underneath he found standard Hogwarts robes, the crest of Slytherin prominent on the chest, a green and silver Slytherin tie, a variety of sweaters detailed in green, and a green and grey scarf.

"This must have been Sirius's brother's trunk," Ginny observed.

"It's no wonder Sirius didn't like him," Ron said. "He was a dirty, no good Slytherin up to his eyeballs in the Dark Arts."

"Sirius never said he didn't like his brother," Hermione pointed out, "he just disliked his parents and the fact that Regulus became a Death Eater. If he didn't like him, why would he have kept his trunk?" Ron couldn't seem to come up with a justification for this.

Reaching down into the very corner of the trunk, Harry grasped another stack of robes that had been set apart from the others. Pulling them out carefully, Harry scrutinized the robes. They appeared to have been worn much more recently than the rest of the clothing in the trunk, but still had an aged look to them. They also appeared to have been much dearer to Regulus than his school robes, for they had been neatly folded and crisp as opposed to the helter-skelter way the rest of the crumpled clothing was packed. Harry unfolded the robes on top of the small pile and found them to be a simple set of full length plain black robes. The next pair was the same. When Harry lifted the next set, a small piece of paper fluttered to the floor. It landed near Kenzie's foot. She bent to pick it up as Harry unfolded the last two items. The first was another set of black robes. The last item, however, was much smaller. Thinking he probably knew what it was, Harry unfolded the small square of back material. Sure enough, the cloth was revealed to be a hood with two eyeholes near the top. These robes were Regulus's Death Eater uniform. Harry turned the hood around to show the group.

"Yes," Hermione sighed, "yes, I thought it might be."

"Me, too," Kenzie agreed, turning the photograph she had retrieved from the floor around for the whole group to see. A woman, a man, and a boy in his late teens scowled back from the photograph. The woman was easily recognizable from the portrait that had previously hung in the foyer of the house. It was Mrs. Black, Sirius's mother. The man himself was unfamiliar, but at the same time, his straight nose, high cheekbones, and proud jaw line were actually quite familiar. He had to be Mr. Black, Sirius's father, who had passed his features onto his son, for he would have been very good looking had it not been for his aura of arrogance that was obvious even through the photo. The boy in the picture was easily identified by the long, black, simple robes he was wearing. Another piece of black cloth was dangling from his hand. Regulus had his father's straight nose, but more closely resembled his mother, who was not so attractive as her husband or oldest son. He had an undeniable air of haughtiness to rival his parents' and was looking down his nose at the group of adolescents who were eagerly studying the photograph.

"Well no wonder Sirius ran away to live with your dad, Harry," Ginny said in disgust as she took the picture and threw it back into the trunk along with the discarded Death Eater robes. Everyone else whole-heartedly agreed.

"See, I was right again," Ron said. "Regulus was a no good dirty Slytherin Death Eater."

"No kidding," Harry agreed.

"I can't believe that I just learned the truth about Sirius a few weeks ago," Kenzie said. "To think, all my life I thought he was the worst of anyone in his family, and all the time he was the only decent one. I wish I could have known him."

"It's not your fault," Ginny assured her. "We all thought he was evil for years."

"Even still," Kenzie said, sounding ashamed.

The tension of the moment soared, but they were spared further conversation when they heard Mrs. Weasley's voice ring through the previously silent house.

"Mum's home," Ron announced unnecessarily.

"We'd better get down there," Ginny said. She Kenzie, and Hermione gathered their small piles of items and the five started down to the kitchen, stopping by the girls' room to deposit their new possessions. They entered the kitchen in a long line, Kenzie bringing up the rear. However, as soon as she set foot in the kitchen, she was suddenly seized by the shoulders, turned back around, and marched back through the door and down the hall.

"Oh, no you don't," Mrs. Weasley scolded gleefully. "You can't see anything until the party, you'll ruin the surprise."

"Really, Mrs. Weasley, this is all so unnecessary," she complained once again.

"No, it isn't," Mrs. Weasley insisted, "and I don't want to hear another word about it. Now you run along while the rest of us set up for the party. Everyone will be here around six."

"But what am I supposed to do all alone for two hours?" Kenzie whined, turning around to face Mrs. Weasley. However, she found herself staring down the hall at the closed kitchen door. She tried the doorknob, but it was locked. She reached for her wand only to find she had left it on her nightstand when she changed out of her pajamas after breakfast. Defeated, Kenzie sighed and turned and walked slowly up the stairs to her bedroom.

Kenzie entered the room and sat down on her bed. What in world am I to do for two hours? she thought dejectedly. Almost as soon as she thought this, Kenzie giggled in delighted surprise. She could hardly believe that she had barely been at Grimmauld Place for a week and already she couldn't bare the thought of being away from her friends. Friends, another thought that made her smile in astonishment. She had never before had true friends, and now she had four. She was almost angry with herself to think that Ginny had been in the same dormitory as she was for going on five years and she, Kenzie, had never tried to befriend Ginny. How different the past four years would have gone if she'd had a friend like Ginny. She found Ron and Hermione exceedingly entertaining, if only because they so blatantly refused to admit their feelings for one another. She had an inkling that Ron was not so clueless about his own feelings as Hermione was about hers, but they were both equally oblivious to the others' feelings. And Harry... oh, Harry. Like almost every other girl she knew, though everyone denied it, of course, she had noticed Harry before now. What kind of girl wouldn't notice the handsome hero of the wizarding world? She couldn't pretend she hadn't been excited when she first learned she would be spending the entire summer with him, but she had initially been worried he would turn out to be the boy the newspapers had talked about, the arrogant showoff. Thankfully, Harry was not that boy, and she no longer felt guilty when her stomach performed somersaults every time he smiled.

Sighing, Kenzie bent down and picked up her cat Pixie, who was rubbing against her ankle. "So what do you think, Pixie? Do you think I have a chance with Harry?" Kenzie asked as she brought the cat to her chest and stroked Pixie's head. Pixie meowed. "Yes? You do?" Kenzie said, holding the cat out in front of her and looking into its eyes. "Oh, I hope so," she admitted with a sigh, putting Pixie down on the bed. Pixie walked around in a circle a few times before curling up and watching Kenzie, purring contently.

Kenzie spent the next half hour cleaning the room. After everything was spotless, she looked through the items she had taken from the attic. She tried on the two sets of robes she had found and went through the contents of a handbag. There was almost nothing in the purse except an exquisite make-up compact with the Gryffindor crest set into the lid with rubies and yellow sapphires. To her surprise, she didn't find pressed face powder inside the compact. Instead, she found pictures cut into circles and inserted into circular photo holders. She gasped when she found Harry and herself staring back from the first photo. But wait, it couldn't have been. Harry had certainly never held Kenzie like that, and the couple in the photo was at least seventeen, and neither Harry nor she was that old. Furthermore, the boy had hazel eyes, while Harry had green. Still the resemblance was striking. Kenzie now turned her attention to the girl. Even Kenzie herself had to admit there was an eerie resemblance between herself and the girl in the photo. She had long red hair which was twisted up and clipped back, but there was a strand of chin-length hair falling from the clip and hanging by her face, just like the strand Kenzie constantly battled with. She had emerald eyes very similar to Kenzie's own, but they exactly matched another set of eyes Kenzie knew very well - Harry's. There was no mistaking the couple. They had to be Harry's parents. She turned to the next picture in the small album contained in the compact and found a group picture again showing Harry's parents. This time, however, they were surrounded by a group of three other boys and two other girls, all of whom were wearing Hogwarts robes bearing the Gryffindor crest. The next picture was of a blonde boy in his late teens that looked vaguely familiar with his arm around a girl with a mane of bouncing brunette curls. Both teens had also been pictured in the previous group photo. The next photo also showed a couple in their teens who had been portrayed in the group photo. This time the boy had dark hair and wore a confident grin as he repeatedly placed huge kisses on the cheek of a beautiful, laughing girl with a sleek sheet of blonde hair. Laughing, Kenzie turned to the next photo. This time, the photo portrayed Harry's mother standing between two pretty girls who had not been pictured in the group photo, their arms looped around one another and huge smiles decorating their faces. Kenzie turned to the final photo, which was again of Harry's parents. This one had been taken later than the others, however, and both of the subjects appeared to be in their early twenties. The blonde and dark-haired men from the previous pictures were also present. All four of them were laughing as Harry's mother modeled a tank top she appeared to have just removed from the gift bag standing at her feet. One of the arrows printed on the shirt pointed toward her face and was labeled "Lily." Another arrow pointed left toward Harry's father. It was labeled "James." The last arrow pointed to the right where the blonde and dark-haired men were standing. It was labeled "Uncles." Finally, the word "Harry" was written across the bottom of the shirt. Looking closely, Kenzie could see that Harry's mother, Lily, was in the later stages of pregnancy.

Kenzie laid the compact down on the bed and glanced at the clock. It was fifteen minutes until six. She went over to the wardrobe and took out a clean pair of jeans and a new fitted T-shirt. After changing clothes, she pulled her hair out of a ponytail and twisted it up like Lily's in the first picture. It took her a few attempts to get the twist right, and by the time she was ready and surveying the final effect in the mirror it was six o'clock. Hermione and Ginny came up to fetch her, and the quick unexpected opening of the room caused Kenzie to start with surprise. She jumped and landed on the edge of the rug, which slipped and sent her sprawling onto the floor, laughing.

"Oh!" Ginny, who had opened the door exclaimed, running over to help Kenzie up. "I'm sorry I startled you, I should have knocked!"

Kenzie, who was still laughing, shook her head to tell Ginny not to worry. "It's not your fault," she assured Ginny once she had stopped laughing. "I'm just the most unbalanced person in the world!" Ginny and Hermione both laughed.

"Come on, let's go," Hermione said, smiling.

"Alright," Kenzie said. She grabbed the compact-album as she walked by her bed, and, slipping it into her pocket, followed Hermione and Ginny out of the room.

When she walked through the door into the kitchen, Kenzie was shocked to see the multitude of people filling the room. A banner hanging over the table read "Happy Birthday, Kenzie!" The table itself was covered in food, and in the very center a huge three-tiered cake covered in chocolate icing had 15 candles arranged around the edge of the top tier. Gifts covered the half of the table behind the cake.

"Happy birthday!" Mrs. Townsen said, bustling over to Kenzie followed closely by Mrs. Weasley. "What do you think?"

"It's... perfect," Kenzie said unbelievingly, smiling more than she could ever remember smiling before.

***

Two hours later, after the cake had been cut, everyone had eaten, all the gifts had been opened, and everyone was preparing to leave, Kenzie pulled Harry aside. "Look what I found inside a handbag I took from the attic," she said, showing him the compact.

"Wow, that's... um.... really pretty," he said, studying the Gryffindor crest on the lid. However, he couldn't hide his confusion at being shown a make-up compact.

"I know, but that's not the important part," Kenzie said, sensing his confusion and taking the compact back. She opened it and handed it to him again. "That's your mum and dad, isn't it?" she asked.

Harry took the compact back and looked at the picture inside. Indeed, there was no mistaking the young boy and girl in the picture. They were standing on the steps of Hogwarts castle, and James had his arms around Lily's waist from behind. Harry nodded mutely.

"What've you got there, Harry?" Remus asked without really looking, coming up behind Harry. When he finally got a good look at what Harry was holding, the look on his face changed dramatically. He held his hand out for it, and Harry reluctantly handed it over. His features softened as he looked at the first picture. As he turned to the second, he swallowed hard and quickly turned past it and the third, which he also quickly skipped. He let himself linger on the fourth and fifth pictures. As he looked at the final photo, Harry could have sworn he say tears form in the man's eyes before he quickly snapped the compact shut. Harry wondered what the last photos showed. "Where did you get this?" Remus asked quietly.

"I found it in an old purse in the attic," Kenzie piped up. "Have you ever seen it before? Do you know who the other people are?"

"Oh, yes," Remus said, running his finger over the crest on the lid. "It belonged to your mother, Harry. She got it from James on her sixteenth birthday. I think it might have been the very thing which made her change her mind about him." He opened the compact again and Kenzie and Harry huddled around him as he pointed people in the group picture out. "Those are your parents, Harry, in the middle, of course. There beside James, that's Wormtail, naturally." Remus stopped and swallowed hard as an angry look came across his face. He quickly shook the look away and continued. "There behind James, that's Sirius and me, and behind Lily are Wendy and Evelyn, they were two of her best friends. We were all seventeen when this was taken, if I'm not mistaken." He turned to the next picture. "That's me, course," he explained, pointing to the blonde boy. Then he pointed to the girl. "That's Evelyn. We were dating at the time, I believe. She was the only girlfriend I ever had during school." He blinked hard and turned to the next photo. "Sirius and Wendy," he pointed to the boy and then the girl. "They never officially dated, they were both far too popular with the opposite sex for that, but they were together longer than I'd ever seen Sirius with anyone before or after her. Your parents and I thought for a long time that they would end up married one day, but...."

"What happened?" Harry asked.

"Wendy and Evelyn were both Aurors with your parents, Sirius, and me," Remus explained. "They were killed about a year before you were born." He swallowed hard again as he turned to the next picture. "You should find this one interesting, Kenzie," Remus said, tilting the compact so Kenzie could get a better look of the three girls.

"Me? Why me?" Kenzie asked, confused.

He pointed to a girl with a head full of thick, spiraling red curls standing on Lily's left and smiled down at Kenzie. "That's your mother, Suzanne," he explained.

Kenzie's mouth fell open in surprise as she stared up at Remus. "My mother?" she repeated slowly. While Mrs. Townsen had pictures of her parents, none of them pictured her mother at so young an age.

"Yes," Remus affirmed as he pointed to the other girl on Lily's right, "and that's Alice Wilkinson, who later became Alice Longbottom. I believe you both know her son, Neville." Both Kenzie and Harry nodded as they examined the photo of Alice. Her blonde hair was more wavy than curly and fell to her chin and framed her round face. "Lily, Suzanne, Alice, Evelyn, and Wendy were all best friends, and arguably the most admired girls in our year. I was never around Suzanne and Alice as much as Evelyn, Wendy, and Lily. Suzanne and Alice were dating boys a few years older than us, so they kept to themselves when the rest of us went on our 'triple dates.'" Remus smiled fondly at the memory of those dates for a moment before he finally turned to the last picture. When he did, his eyes filled with tears despite the smile that overtook his lips. "I'd forgotten about that shirt."

Harry leaned in for a closer look, then leaned back again and laughed. Remus looked over at him. "Yes, it was good, wasn't it?" Remus laughed, looking back at the picture. "I'd forgotten all about that shirt. Sirius had it made for Lily. She only got to wear it for a couple of months before you were born, but she loved it, and James loved to see her wear it. You could always see a little of the bottom of her stomach, so James said that every time she wore it, it meant that he could see his 4 favorite people: you, Lily, Sirius, and me." Remus took another long look at the 4 young people laughing in the picture. He smiled sadly again as he ran his finger over the picture before snapping the compact closed and handing it back to Harry, trying to smile as though he wasn't upset.

"No, it's Kenzie's," Harry said, holding it out to her.

"Oh, no, you keep it. They're your parents, your family really, since it's your 'uncles,' too," Kenzie insisted.

"You found it, and it's got your mum, too," Harry protested.

"It's mostly your family, and the compact is your mother's," Kenzie continued.

"At least take this picture," Harry offered, removing the picture showing Suzanne, Lily, and Alice.

"Thank you," Kenzie said, accepting the picture before turning to Remus. "I'm sorry if it upset you, it's entirely my fault you saw it."

"No, no, of course not," Remus assured her. "It's always nice to remember the good days. Now if you two will please excuse me," he said, stepping between Kenzie and Harry and going over to Mrs. Weasley. He thanked her for dinner, and Disapparated. He didn't look alright at all.

"Oh, I'm so thick," Kenzie moaned. "I always pick exactly the wrong moment for everything."

"Don't worry, he'll be all right," Harry assured her. "Maybe we should go find Ron, Hermione, and Ginny now."

"Yes, let's," Kenzie agreed. They crossed the room together to where the other three were standing.

"So what have you two been talking about?" Hermione asked them cheerfully.

"Show you later," Harry and Kenzie answered in unison. They all laughed and began discussing the gifts Kenzie had received. Ron groaned with envy as Kenzie showed him the Nimbus Two Thousand and Two her Grandmother had given her. Hermione, who had no interest in Quidditch, excused herself to go aid Mrs. Weasley as the conversation again turned to tryouts for the Gryffindor house team.

"Well, with a broom like this, they're no way you won't make it," Ron was saying.

"It's way better than my broom, and even I made it."

"It can go a lot faster than my old Nimbus, too - not to say that I don't still think that was the best broom ever," Harry said.

"I hope I get a new broom if I make the team," Ginny said enviously as she examined the broom. "D'you know what the handle is ma--" Ginny was cut off in the middle of her sentence by a terrified scream. Almost every head whirled toward the door, but Ron scanned the room instead.

"Where's Hermione?" he asked, looking pale. They all wore matching looking of horror as they again turned slowly toward the door. All the adults had already poured out the door, down the hall, and into the courtyard, and now Harry, Ron, Ginny, and Kenzie ran out after them.

"Why was she out here?" Ron demanded of the first person they saw when they got outside, his mother.

"Arthur was taking the rubbish out to the bin," she answered, ringing her hands. "She offered to take it for him."

"Well? Where is she?" Ron demanded.

"She's gone," Mr. Weasley answered, coming up beside his wife and looking pale. "I should have brought it out here myself. I shouldn't have let her come out here. But I thought it was safe. I wouldn't have let Harry do it, but I thought she was safe." He sat down on the bench under the tree with his head in his hands.

"It's not your fault, Arthur," Mrs. Weasley comforted him, sitting down beside her husband. "We all thought it was safe." Mrs. Weasley didn't look nearly as calm as she tried to sound, however. Her voice was cracked, her face was pale, and she was shaking.

"I've found something!" someone called. All the Order members who had attended the party and were now searching the small yard for clues gathered around Tonks, who held up a small piece of paper. "'Now you know who to look for. No mistakes this time, Wormtail,'" Tonks read off the paper. Her brow furrowed as he frowned in confusion and turned the paper over. She showed the photo on the other side to everyone. Kenzie, who was trying to comfort Mr. and Mrs. Weasley - though she was just as upset as them herself - didn't see it, but when she looked up all eyes were on her.

"What? What is it?" she asked cautiously.

"The photo. It's of you," Harry told her.

"But why - why would Wormtail have my picture?" Kenzie swallowed hard as realization hit her. "Was he - was he after... me?" She looked around for an answer, but no one appeared to have one to give. They all looked away as her gaze passed over them. Finally she got to her Grandmother. Mrs. Townsen, however, didn't look away. Instead, she sighed heavily, squared her shoulders and said, "Come with me, Mackenzie. It's time I tell you everything."